Very cool program. This program would be useful to use as a teacher if you're a fan of concept maps. Prezi is practically a concept map generator, complete with the ability to easily move, roll, and zoom around it.
Personally, I don't actually use concept maps unless I'm asked to, but my career has plenty of time left to include them.
Since you can use many features of Prezi free, I could see using this in the classroom.
My Thoughts on explorelearning.com and Gizmos
This website was born for classes with easy computer access. The science department at Sacred Heart, where I had my first practicum, used Gizmos extensively. It puts the student in control of their learning and gives them some decent games and practice with problems.
I can see some misuse of Gizmos. Gizmos were great for the students at Sacred Heart, but using them a lot meant the students were good at doing Gizmos, this didn't make them good at pencil and paper tests, which Sacred Heart still clung to.
I had to design and implement the Optics unit during my first practicum and I regret not utilizing a few Gizmos. They have optics Gizmos! Do you know how difficult it was to find really engaging optics material?
I seem to have a bit of a radical perspective on Wikipedia amongst the teachers in the program (according to hearsay, anyway). I think Wikipedia is a great asset to the class.
There are scarcely any articles on Wikipedia that actually have subpar information when you consider the K-12 level you're dealing with. There may be some specialty subjects unavailable, but that's offset by most subjects having way more information than is actually required.
Talking to your students about how Wikipedia works (how it can be used as a 'jumping platform' for research, how articles could be subpar and warning signs) is a perfect teachable moment about Internet research in general. At the end of the day, even peer-reviewed literature is flawed and requires scrutiny.
My Thoughts on our presentation
I had a good time! Speaking of time, was that actually 20 minutes?
Lisa and I could have used a bit more preparation time, and we had a little too much stuff to show the class. I think that ended up being a positive point though, because on that day only the Celestia download page at SourceForge was dysfunctional. Go figure!
Count me in on the group of people that were a bit confused on the format/objective of the lesson in general. "Student-centred, tech-driven lesson" sounded like we would actually give a lesson, and that's what we planned for by preparing a Google Form with a super-condensed Grade 9 lesson. Then, the entire class seemed to be doing a more traditional (for this program) presentation of educational tools. Lisa and I spent about 10 minutes trying to modify the lesson to more of a presentation-style. Peer pressure, I guess, but no one said that was the wrong way to present until the end. I was a little disappointed by that, since I wanted everyone to try out my second ever Google Form.
My Thoughts on Creative Commons and Copyright
I like the Creative Commons mission. While not anti-copyright per se, it is at least giving people options for opening rights to their work with ease. Not everyone is well-versed in copyright law, nor is everyone a lawyer.
I'm generally anti-copyright. Though, as an "employee" of the state (a teacher), I would grudgingly follow Canada's copyright laws. Following laws is good, most of the time.
Copyright laws are grossly outdated or even obsolete in the 21st century. Technology, the Internet, and Web 2.0 now allow near-instantaneous sharing of various media (books, music, movies, software, etc). My biggest issue with copyright is that it is basically just protecting profits. Not a company's survival, just it's profits. Even if 21st century information sharing were to make certain companies obsolete, for instance, a video rental store, so what? There is no immorality to that end. I will support the companies or people I want to support (for instance, I rarely pirate video games).
The other problem I have with copyright are laws that control how I am to use whatever I've purchased. Movies or games "for personal use only." I disagree with this fundamentally.
Copyright is starting to enter dangerous territory, as companies are now capable of copyrighting things like seeds, hybrids, or variants of living organisms. Copyright should be about protecting theft (almost a fallacy within itself, copyright infringement is not theft), but some copyright is effectively theft by monopolizing certain industries and products.
My Thoughts on Prezi
My Thoughts on explorelearning.com and Gizmos
My Thoughts on use of Wikipedia vs. Not
My Thoughts on our presentation
My Thoughts on Creative Commons and Copyright
Comments? I insist!